the stag and the horse
by Smurphy31
Summary: it starts after the battle of hogwarts and is my version of what happened in those 19 years
1. its finally over

It was all over.

Ginny could not believe it. She had lost many of the people she loved in the process but they had done it. Seven years leading up to this battle and it had all happened so quickly.

Ginny was snapped out of here thought by Luna calling her name.

"Ginny, oh sorry i didn't realize you were so deep in thought"

"Hey Luna its fine I was just thinking that now it's all over"

"It does seem so doesn't it? Unless you count the remaining Death Eaters"

They sat in silence for a few minutes both lost in their own thoughts.

"Luna"

Neville was running toward them

"See you later Ginny"

"See ya Luna"

After Luna left Ginny could not take the silence that was left behind, she got up and started walking towards the lake. It was only now that she realized how late it must be for the water of the lake was pitch black and reflected what was left of the castles exterior in its glassy surface. There was little noise but it was better than the deafening silence of the hall as people mourned there friends and family. She sat there listening to the wind through the trees and the slow ebb of the water completely lost in her thoughts. It was not until she heard her name being called that she realized how cold she was and wondered how long she had been sitting here.

"Ginny, we're leaving"

It was her mother calling her. She got up slowly and started walking towards where her family (noticeable smaller without Fred), Harry and Hermione stood waiting for her. They all had scars and bruises as souvenirs from the battle, but the worst of all their scars were the looks on their faces. The loss they had all suffered was obvious. Fred really had been loved by many and would never be forgotten. Ginny looked into George's eyes, they had a dead look to them all of their usual laughter gone. She wondered if it would ever return to even a fraction of what it had been.

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The Burrow was in complete and utter silence. It atmosphere was so thick with the weight of losing Fred you could cut it with a knife. Molly and Arthur were sitting on the couch, Molly with a cup of tea in her hand and Arthur with his arm around his wife. Percy was sitting at the kitchen table with Bill, Charlie and Fleur. George was sitting in the armchair with a bottle of fire whiskey in one hand and a forgotten glass in the other; he took a big swig from the bottle before announcing that he was going to bed. Ginny, Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting on a rug in front of a crackling fire. Hermione had her head on Ron's shoulder with his arm around her. Ginny was curled into Harry's arms. The four of them were all staring onto the fire, each in their own worlds of thought.

She did not know how long they sat like that, but soon the silence was getting to much for her to bear, she got up, Harry got up as well, and said goodnight to a silent room not really sure if anyone really heard her. Giving Harry a goodnight kiss, she went to bed.

Ginny lay awake for what seemed like hours. Just thinking about all of the adventures she had in her short time at Hogwarts.

In her first year she had found a mysterious black book packed with her schoolbooks, it had been a diary and she had poured her heart and soul onto its pages, talking to Tom Riddle. He had been so understanding, so caring. But he had used her. She could still feel the coldness creeping into her, the cruel laugh of the boy that would one day become Voldemort. But Harry had come to save her, he had risked his life to save her, she still felt giddy with the thought. She had always been in love with the legendary Harry Potter.

In her second year there had been the escape of Sirius Black, murderer. There were dementors everywhere. Spreading their feeling of hopelessness across the school grounds and Hogsmead. Ron's rat turned out to be a man who was responsible for the death of Harry's parents and who everyone thought was dead and Sirius is Harry's godfather.

In her third year it had been the triwizard cup. Sirius was in hiding and a crazy Death Eater that was pretending to be the defense against the arts professor put Harry into the tournament. She had gone to the Yule ball with Neville (it was the only way she was going to be able to go, but really she had wanted to make harry jealous). Cederic had died and harry had won the tournament. Later she found out that he had given the prize money to Fred and George for a joke shop and Voldemort had returned to power.

In her fourth year they had gone to Grimmauld Place, which they had been forced by Mrs. Weasley to clean all summer. They had been stuck with that ghastly Umbridge as a teacher who was trying to stop them learning defensive magic so they couldn't go against the ministry. They had started Dumbledore's Army right under the "Hogwarts high inquisitors'" nose. Dad had been attacked by Voldemort's giant snake, harry saved him. She had gone out with and subsequently dumbed Michael corner and started going out with Dean Thomas. She had joined the quidditch team as replacement seeker. They had gone to ministry of magic to save Sirius, it had been a trap, which lead to Sirius's death. And the rest of the wizarding world finally realized that Voldemort had returned.

In her fifth year she had written her O.W.L.s, harry had found an old potion book that had belonged to someone called the half-blood prince (who had turned out to be Snape). She had been part of the 'slug club'. And of course the most exciting thing that had happened to her that year had been that she had FINALLY started dating Harry Potter. Dumbledore was killed by Snape. And harry had dumped her at his funeral.

In her sixth year harry, Ron and Hermione had gone off to look for horcruxes and she returned to Hogwarts with Neville and Luna. They had restarted Dumbledore's army. Luna had been taken. And she (along with many others) went into hiding in the room of requirements. Though she was underage, she took part in the Battle of Hogwarts despite her mother's and Harry's disapproval. After Harry's supposed death, she, Hermione, and Luna had taken on Bellatrix Lestrange, who nearly struck her with a Killing Curse, infuriating her mother to the point of intervening and slaying Bellatrix herself.

Ginny turned over onto her side, pulled the blankets up to her chin and finally fell asleep.


	2. Note from me

**_Sorry about the long wait for the next chapter guys_**

**_Exams_**

**_but it will be up soon_**


	3. Will you go back?

Ginny woke the next morning feeling all all of the strain the battle had taken both physically and mentally. She got dressed tentatively wincing occasionally.

After she had finished getting dressed she went down the stairs into the kitchen. Sitting at the table was her mother staring into a full cup of tea. She went out into the garden and started walking. She walked and walked and tried not to think of the horrors of the battle. Of Lupin and Tonks.

And Fred.

She found herself in the orchard. She sat down under a tree and rested her head on her knees.

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"Ginny, where are you Gin"

Ginny quickly wiped her eyes before harry could see that she had been crying.

"There you are. I have been looking for you everywhere. Kingsley is here to speak to us"

"What about?"

"I don't know he just said you had to be there too. And you don't have to hide the fact that you were crying, not from me"

Harry wiped the remaining tears off of Ginny's face and they both walked back to the burrow together.

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"Ahh Ginny, harry, there you are. Now we can begin" said Kingsley when they entered the living room

"Now I am sure that I do not need to mention that none of you have completed your magical education. How ever seeing that you have all completed your O.W.L.s and have shown a considerable amount of magical prowess and skill the ministry has decided to give the option of going back to Hogwarts or continuing on to your chosen career paths,it is however entirely your own choices"

Harry and Ron both said that they would not be returning to Hogwarts, hermione after some deliberation decided that she too would not be returning to Hogwarts

Ginny could not quite make up her mind as to what she wanted to do. Could she return to the place where Fred and so many others had died. But then she had no idea what she wanted to do as a career. Finally she said that she would return and finish her education.

"Right then. We will need to discuss what will be happening from here on for the three of you and ms Weasley you may go if you wish" Kingsley asked politely of Ginny.

"No thanks I'll stay"

"Very well then. Now you three have chosen bot to return to Hogwarts once it has been rebuild so therefor we must discuss what will happen with regards to your various careers. Harry and Ron I have heard that you two would like to join the Aurors, would you still like to join?"

Both the boys nodded

"Alright then I will contact the Auror offices and inform them and you should receive owls with all the relevant information. And hermione I have heard that you have some issues regarding elf rights and our department for the regulation of magical creatures is very much looking forward to having you within their ranks"

"Thank you minister, that sounds amazing"

"Please just call me Kingsley, unless of course we are at the ministry. And these are for you and the rest of the family, I thought that while I was coming I might as well bring these to you myself. A bit more personal than an owl"

Kingsley handed them each a black envelope and placed a small stack of the envelopes on the table.

Ginny looked at the envelope it was a plain black sealed with the Hogwarts seal. The letter inside was also black and the writing was silver. At the bottom was both the Hogwarts and the ministry stamps.

_We invite you to a memorial service for all of those lives lost in the battle against the dark forces of Lord Voldemort and his supporters_

_Come and pay your respects to all of the fallen heroes_

The memorial was set to take place in two weeks


	4. Memorializing An Ending And Celebrating

**Right guys sorry about the long time since the previous chapter but I had writers block, but I have big ideas for later in the story**

The next two week went by so quickly and Ginny spend most of it in her room not talking to anyone and only coming out for meals. Most of the family had been like this.

The morning of the service Ginny woke up before the sun had even risen and just lay in her bed and stared out of her window. She watched the sun rise over the or herd and got dressed. When she went down stairs she found her parents, Hermione, Harry, Percy and George already sitting at the table. Bill had gone home with fleur a few days ago, they were both going to meet them at the school.

She went and sat down at the table and accepted the tea her mother offered her. About ten minutes later Ron came down the stairs and a few minutes later Charlie joined them at the table. They were all staring at the empty place at the table.

Fred's seat had not been occupied since before the battle

After what seemed like hours of silence (but it could only have been about ten minutes) Arthur got up from the table and said it was time to go.

The great hall had been restored first and was now whole. The rest of the castle was still in ruin but nobody seemed to notice because on the grounds next to the lake were hundreds of white tables with white shrouded figures on top of them.

Everybody was gathered in the great hall waiting for professor McGonagall to come into the hall and make her speech. They had been there for about ten minutes when one of the side doors opened and professor McGonagall, Kingsley and the man that had done the eulogy at dumbledore's funeral walked in to the hall. Kingsley and the unnamed man sat at the staff table and McGonagall went up to the podium and started with her speech.

"This hallowed castle was under attack. Many people fought. And many of those people took their final stand against the evil forces that sought to destroy all we hold dear. We memorialize those brave men, women and children today. It is always a tragedy when someone dies, even more of a tragedy when that person is murdered. . . All of the goodbyes we will say today are goodbyes to people who knew the consequences of fighting what some would call a losing battle. The greatest tragedy that we mourn today is the death of young people, children, barely given the chance to live their lives before they were so cruelly and prematurely snatched away from them. We must remember the reason these wondrous people gave their lives. As I stand here looking into many young faces that I see sitting here today and I remember. In every family that I see sitting here today I remember. In every inch of this magnificent school I remember. And in the faces of every student I will see walk these halls I will remember. They died for freedom.

After professor McGonagall finished her speech people made their way out to the bodies by the lake to say goodbye personally. Ginny walked past the tables stopping at names she recognized to give her goodbye. She did not stop long at any of the tables. Not even Fred's. as she walked past reading all the names on the engraved silver plates on each of the tables she never once shed a tear. She just felt numb. She had no more tears to shed.

Her family, Harry and Hermione were all gathered around Fred's table. Her mother was sobbing into her father's shoulder, her father's face was also wet but he was trying to be strong for his wife. Her brothers all had tears in their eyes and Hermione was crying into Ron's shoulder. Harry just had a look of complete misery and guilt on his face.

Ginny walked back up to the castle, past the great hall and started making her way through the corridors. She had no destination in mind, she just walked through the wrecked hallways of what had once been her school. She found herself at the portrait of the fat lady. The fat lady did not even ask for a password and just swung open letting Ginny in. She went and sat in one of the big chairs in front of the fire and sat down with her head on her knees and just sat there.

She had been sitting there when the common room door opened instantly Ginny jumped up wand at he ready poised for attack.

"Whoa it's just me Ginny"

Harry came and sat in the chair next to her as Ginny sat back down and put her wand away.

"Sorry, force of habit"

"It's fine, but I really would not like to be hit by one of your hexes"

A little smile escaped her lips, but was gone instantly.

"You are allowed to smile gin, you know he would have wanted people to be smiling, we're free"

She said nothing.

"Umm Ginny I know that this is probably not the best time, but it seems to be the only time I will be able to get you alone, once we go back to the burrow with all your family around. . . Well I just wanted to ask about. . . About us" Harry finished with a nervous tone.

"And what makes you think that there is an us, mr potter. You left me remember" (a low blow she knew but she was still pretty pissed at him)

"Ginny you know why I did that"

"Yes I know but did you really expect that when this was all over I would just be waiting for you to decide that it was safe to be with me again. Harry when you left me standing there beside the lake it hurt okay"

"I'm sorry Ginny, I didn't expect you to wait for me, I was sure I was going to die. But Ginny if you will have me I was wondering if we could give it another go"

"Give me a reason why" (she knew she sounded like a total bitch but at the moment she really did not care)

"Ginny I love you and I have stir the past two years and I do not expect you to love me back, although I hope you still do. And I am sorry I am the reason that Fred is dead. It is all me fault, all of those people out there are dead because of me"

"Harry you really still don't get it do you. Those people out there did not die for you, or because of you. They died for a reason a whole lot bigger than that. It was always bigger than just you Harry it was always about freedom. Freedom from fear. And of course I love you I have since I was a little girl. I used to play games and I would pretend I was mrs potter. I even told my mother that I was going to be mrs potter one day"

"Really?"

"Yes you idiot"

As she said it she walked over to Harry and gave him a kiss. At first Harry did not respond but after the first second Harry pulled her onto his lap and kissed her with more passion and love than he ever had before. He opened his mouth and she opened hers and the kiss deepened. When they came up for air, both panting they both started laughing. Ginny put her head on Harry's shoulder and they just sat there in each others arms, both as happy as they could possible be.


End file.
